Has anyone read this book by BR Myers? It's really fascinating. Myers basically deconstructs the prose and purpose of much of the 'award-winning', 'highly-acclaimed' fiction of the past several decades and exposes it for the pretentious attempts at profundity it really is. His attacks range from Annie Proulx to Cormac McCarthy to Don DeLillo, among so many others. His rants are made engaging and entertaining through his humor, precision of speech, and detailed analysis (he often directly quotes passages from these so-called 'masterpieces' and proceeds, step by logical step, to show exactly why the writing is just plain bad, or often incomprehensible).

A form of his arguments has been stewing in my mind for years, although I never had the nerve to put it as lucidly and intelligently as he does. The obsession of modern fiction with 'form' has led to the deterioration of good story-telling, engaging themes, and, well, 'form'. If you want to know why many others, and I would opt for a book by P.G. Wodehouse or Kurt Vonnegut or (on heavier days) Vladimir Nabakov over any prize-winning recent best seller, the reasons are in this book. Anyone who's read (or not read but is interested in) the book care to air their opinions?

Who is BR Meyers? I did not know deconstructionism was something new in literature. As more of a fan of Italo Calvino, PKDick, Umberto Eco I can't claim any familiarity with recent pretentious writing. The OLD Kurt Vonnegut Jr books were fun. How is his more recent material? Are Thomas Pynchon and William Burroughs still considered good writers?

A condensed version can be found here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/07/myers.htm